Help Fund a Bethel Lutheran School Education for a Student in Need

The purpose of the Jeanette A. Smith Memorial Bethel Lutheran School Tuition Assistance Fund is to provide support for Bethel Lutheran School, a ministry of Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church of Morton Illinois. Specifically the annual grants will, by priority: (1) fund tuition assistance for the benefit of students whose families may not have the resources or means to pay BLS tuition fees, and (2) fund such other needs as determined by Agency Administrators.

Jeanette A. (Jan) Smith thought that education was the key to solving a lot of the World's problems. She was the founder and Director of the Family Resources Center, which was a Christian Library in Peoria, IL. When her own children were all in school, she decided to pursue her passion for education by returning to finish her own degree in education. She graduated from Bradley University Summa Cum Laude in 1972, and was immediately hired by District 709 in Morton, IL to teach 4th grade at Jefferson grade school. She also taught 4th grade at Lettie Brown grade school, and Blessed Sacrament grade school. She was a creative and innovative teacher that made learning fun for her students. She loved her students, and they loved her in return, and many of them will proclaim that she was their “favorite teacher”. This fund will continue her legacy by providing funding/tuition for students to continue their education.

Jan’s husband, Pete, decided to establish this new fund to benefit students attending Bethel Lutheran School, a school affiliated with Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church where Pete and his late wife began attending in recent years.